Mercer advances to Women?s Soccer Championship semis

MACON, Ga. – No. 3 seed Mercer scored three goals in a 10-minute span midway through the second half to blow open a scoreless game as the Bears took a 3-0 win over No. 6 seed Chattanooga in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference Women’s Soccer Championship from Bear Field on Sunday. Jamilah Tejan assisted on the first two scores to pace the Mercer offense.

The Bears (10-8-1) advance to face No. 2 seed ETSU on Friday, Nov. 4, in the semifinals of the tournament, which will be held at the Bucs’ Summers-Taylor Stadium. The 7:30 p.m. match follows the 5 p.m. tilt between No. 1 seed Samford and No. 4 Furman. The title match is Sunday, Nov. 6, at 1 p.m. and will air live on ESPN3.

Chattanooga sees its season end at 6-11-2.

After a scoreless first half that saw Chattanooga control the run of play, Mercer finally broke through in the 60th minute. Tejan played a ball back to Valeria Bermeo inside the box, and the junior fired a shot that beat Chattanooga keeper Melia Correa top shelf for the 1-0 lead.

The Bears doubled that lead moments later, with Tejan again the catalyst. The senior took a pass from Megan Delmonico, made a run up the middle of the field and found Maddie Clark with a nice through ball. Clark converted for her 13th goal of the season, shooting back across her body and into the left side of the goal for the 2-0 advantage at the 62:28 mark.

The lead went to 3-0 less than three minutes later when a Chattanooga defender inadvertently headed a Mercer cross into her own net.

The Mercer win avenged a 2-1 loss to the Mocs on Oct. 2.

Chattanooga outshot Mercer 5-2 and had eight corner kicks in the opening frame but could not convert. For the match, the Mocs got nine shots from eight different players. Peyton McCollum and Samantha Hogan put shots on frame that forced saves from Mercer keeper Cristina Mursuli, who posted her fifth shutout of the season.

Chattanooga’s Correa made two saves and allowed three goals in 72:33, while Katie Emig worked the final 17:27 of the contest and made one save.

2016 SoCon Women’s Soccer Championship

Oct. 26 (Wednesday)
First round (at higher seeds)
Match 1: No. 8 VMI 1, No. 9 The Citadel 0 (OT)
Match 2: No. 7 Western Carolina 2, No. 10 Wofford 1 (2OT)

Oct. 29 (Saturday)
Quarterfinal round (at higher seeds)
Match 3: No. 1 Samford 5, No. 8 VMI 0
Match 4: No. 4 Furman 1, No. 5 UNCG 0 (OT)
Match 5: No. 2 ETSU 2, No. 7 Western Carolina 1

Oct. 30 (Sunday)
Quarterfinal round (at higher seeds)
Match 6: No. 3 Mercer 3, No. 6 Chattanooga 0

Nov. 4 (Friday)
Semifinals (Summers-Taylor Stadium; Johnson City, Tenn.)
Match 7: No. 1 Samford vs. No. 4 Furman, 5 p.m. (SoCon Digital Network)
Match 8: No. 2 ETSU vs. No. 3 Mercer, 7:30 p.m. (SoCon Digital Network)

Nov. 6 (Sunday)
Final (Summers-Taylor Stadium; Johnson City, Tenn.)
Match 9: Winner Match 7 vs. Winner Match 8, 1 p.m. (ESPN3)

All times Eastern.

-www.SoConSports.com-